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Stephen A. Smith sounds off on Brandon Miller playing at South Carolina, projects NBA reaction
By Keith Farner
Published:
Stephen A. Smith has weighed in on “First Take” on the Brandon Miller situation at Alabama as the star player led the Crimson Tide to a win over South Carolina on Wednesday in which he scored the game-winning basket.
However, the ESPN analyst separates his opinion between Miller the basketball player, and Miller the person and his actions related to a fatal shooting in January in Tuscaloosa. Smith said Miller should not have played on Wednesday night.
“I will applaud Brandon Miller the basketball player,” Smith said. “From the standpoint to endure what he was enduring last night, and to go out there as a freshman and to put on that show on the road, absolutely showed a level of mental toughness that I believe NBA scouts, people on the next level will look at, assuming there’s nothing that comes from this from a legal perspective for him. They’ll look at that level of mental toughness and find a way to applaud that. And as a basketball player, I’m not saying that should be applauded, but as a young man, I want Brandon Miller to think about this: You didn’t pull the trigger, you didn’t shoot anybody, and it’s important to say that.”
Smith also pointed out that if Miller didn’t have that weapon to provide to others, a woman would still be alive.
“To think about that, and for you to have anything to do with that, is something that should make it very, very difficult for you to sleep at night,” Smith said. “As opposed to pumping your chest to the people who were booing you. They may have been excessive in terms of saying, ‘Lock him up! Lock him up!’ because you didn’t pull the trigger, and according to law enforcement in Alabama, you committed no crime.”
Stephen A. Smith questions Brandon Miller for having a gun: ‘A young lady probably would still be alive’ https://t.co/fez4jc0H6O pic.twitter.com/PnHrBnkuCi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 23, 2023
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
